"The Walking Dead: Season 5 Premiere" Explosive Recap!

So...where exactly do I begin with this recap? Let me start by saying that snacking on nachos, salsa, and ginger ale was probably not the best way to kick it off. I’m not going to lie...after THIS particular episode, I kind of wanted to curl up in a ball and just mutter “Daryl and Carol, Rick and Judith” and repeat. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit over dramatic but not by much, since I had to cover my eyes at the slaughterhouse and the walkers-eating-faces bit. Let’s just say if you all thought that the Governor was gruesome, all of what happened in the last season is all child’s play compared to what this one episode brought to the table. So let’s begin! 

The season kicks us off with a blast from the past in the boxcar. But this time, Gareth, Alex and the Terminus gang being held hostage. A group of heathens have overran the once innocent Terminus and are holding the people hostage, taking turns raping and torturing them. “We were trying to do something good...what are we now?” Alex asks.

Fast forward to the present where Rick and the gang are held hostage in the boxcar but they aren’t moping; they are building up weapons but before they can attack, a frag grenade is thrown in the box car to disorient them. Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob are taken to the slaughterhouse with four others...one of them being Sam from Season 4 (remember him and the girl gathering supplies when Rick and Carol were on a run). The two butchers get to work as they bat the four men in the head and slit their throats. Sickenly, the dead lean over with their blood spilling into a trough. Before Glenn’s turn, Gareth interrupts the process by interrogating Rick about the bag of weapons hidden in the forest. Suddenly, gunfire and explosions shake the place up....

Earlier that day, Carol and Tyrese, holding Judith, walk down the tracks when they try hiding from a herd of walkers headed their way. But gunfire erupts and the walkers head towards the noise. The three arrive at a cabin, where a Terminus man named Martin is setting up explosives to distract the walkers but not before Carol demands him at gunpoint to drop his radio after hearing him talk about the group. Carol takes the explosives, slathers herself in guts and mud and heads to Terminus. Tyrese stays in the cabin, watching both Judith and Martin. Carol is at the edge of Terminus when she can see Rick and the men being led to the slaughterhouse. She notices a propane tank and launches an explosive.

BOOM. 

Walkers catch fire and hell breaks loose!

Rick uses the chance to cut off his handcuffs and slashes the butchers. He frees Daryl, Glenn and Bob and they head out. The group in the boxcar are anxious but ready as they hear the chaos around them. As Rick and the gang try to flee, they come across Alex’s body on a table from when he was shot in the head. They leave him there to turn and go to another portion of Terminus where human bodies without limbs are hung on hooks. Disgusted, Rick commands the group to kill any Terminus residents.

While they flee to help survivors, Glenn insists they free the other prisoners in boxcars but when they attempt to, they are met with a madman who chants “We are all the same.....” before being taken down by a walker. Carol finds a room where the prisoners’ belongings...clothes, jewelry and even children’s toys...are on a table. Carol finds Rick’s watch and Daryl’s crossbow and continues on to find the group. Rick and the gang take cover and see a group of Terminus residents shooting at a group of walkers...but then Rick and the group take no chance and began shooting at both the walkers and the residents, leaving the injured to be devoured by walkers (probably rightfully so).

Carol stumbles across the Terminus shrine. Mary confronts her, holding a gun and telling her to drop her weapon. While it looks like Carol is about to comply, the two then ensue in a physical altercation. Carol wins this round and Mary, practically foaming at the mouth, explains that Terminus was once an innocent community with sincere intentions. But pillagers overtook the town, raping and torturing the women. That is when Mary claimed that they “be the butchers or the cattle” and overtook the town, taking their revenge on everyone else for what had happened. When Carol demands to know where Rick is and what will happen, Mary refuses. Carol shoots her in the leg and then leaves, leaving Mary to be eaten by walkers (again, rightfully so).

Back in the cabin, Tyrese notices a group of walkers headed their way as they are drawn to the commotion. Martin uses this opportunity to wrap his tied hands around Judith’s neck, demanding Tyrese to walk out with the walkers or Judith will die. Tyrese walks out to the walkers. Thinking he’s dead, Martin checks outside...only to have Tyrese pummel through the door to kill Martin.


In the boxcar, the women demand Eugene to tell them the “classified” information about the disease. As an engineer, Eugene explains that they “fought fire with fire” as he helped create some sort of “biological weapon of war“ that could help fight other diseases used as weapons. This particular disease killed all humans but there’s also hope that the same disease could be patented to kill all walkers. Before he can explain further, Rick and the group save the day and fight their way out of the hellish Terminus.

Rick and the gang climb over the fence, leaving some walkers to die and some others...like the walkers of the Terminus survivors and butchers...to ‘live“. They go back to the spot in the woods where Rick hid the bag of weapons. Rick is hellbent on returning to Terminus to finish them all off but the group object. “Rick, we just barely made it out,” Abe explains. But before anyone can say anything else, Carol appears...much to Daryl’s delight as he runs up to her and falls in her arms. Rick and the group embrace Carol, thanking her for all that she did. Carol leads them back to the cabin.

After watching A LOT of blood, guts and goes, let's get out the tissues to dab our tears of happiness!!! 

Carol and Daryl <3 

Sasha and Tyrese <3 

Rick, Carl and Judith <3 

All of America <3

Rick and Carl then tearfully reunite with Judith as Sasha runs up to her brother. Abe and his group talk among themselves, saying they won’t “talk to Rick just yet” about their mission. Rick decides that it’s time to get the hell away from Terminus as much as possible and they head on, but not before Rick marks the Terminus sign for it to read “NO SANCTUARY”.


FLASHBACK: The stricken Terminus residents Gareth and Alex are huddled  when the crazed madman opens up the cart, throws back in Mary and grabs a frightened young girl and takes her out to be assaulted. The men try to comfort Mary and then vow then and there “you are either the butcher or the cattle” in terms of taking back Terminus.


A bit of time goes by after Rick and the gang move forward when a masked man walks down the tracks and comes across the sign. The man takes his mask off and it’s Morgan. He then goes into the woods to follow the trees with x’s in a circle carved in them.


What did you guys all think? Could you handle the guts and gore? Who do you think is going to survive this time? Will Morgan catch up to Rick? AND WHERE IS BETH?!

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Picture Sources: The Walking Dead Wikia (Still Images), Uproxx (GIFs)